


Escape Velocity

by angelsandcastiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Charlie Bradbury & Dean Winchester Friendship, Dead John Winchester, Everyone Is Alive, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Just a different setting, M/M, Multi, No actual spoilers for season 12, Past Anna Milton/Dean Winchester, Past Character Death, Past Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Past Violence, Psychologist Castiel, Season 12 Inspired, Sexual Tension, Teacher Anna Milton, Teacher Dean Winchester, Teacher Sam Winchester, Unless I accidentally write it in, Violent past but not future, Which sometimes happens, everyone is the same age, will change and add more tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 20:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9842570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsandcastiel/pseuds/angelsandcastiel
Summary: Dean Winchester, a Kindergarten teacher at Lawrence Elementary School, lives to work. With the start of another school year, Dean feels more invigorated than ever - until a troubled and unruly student walks through his door. He has never felt more frustrated as an educator with any of his students. No one willing to help this student - not even the principal, Mr. Singer.Determined to get help, Dean turns to the newest member of the school staff for help and Dr. Novak seems more than willing to lend a hand.





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This is an introduction to the story - I will definitely be writing more but I felt the need to post to see if anyone would be interested in reading this story.

The first day of school was more exhilarating as a teacher than it ever was when he was a student.  
  
Even after five years of teaching Kindergarten at Lawrence Elementary, Dean Winchester could never shake the jitters. It always started with the scatter-brain effect: where he couldn't think about one topic for more than two seconds. It traveled all the way down his body through the bouncing movement of his leg.

It all stemmed from one of the fears he had as a teacher: his students would be failures.

He simply wouldn't allow that to happen.  
  
He had spent two weeks preparing his classroom. He wiped every surface in the room. He reorganized all of the reading books. Hell, he spent an hour making sure all the plastic horses were back in the corral behind the child-sized barn and that the various doll houses actually had the matching furniture placed in all the right rooms. Dean spent over two hours writing students names on different shape and color tags. One went on their cubby, one went into the daily job chart, and taped to their desks would be the last name tag.

It was a painstaking process; but, it had to be done. It was all for his kids.

His kid...

 _Ben would have been five years old this year._  
  
Dean's hand shook as he reached for his coffee. _Ben would have also been going to Lawrence Elementary..._ His hand gripped the handle of the mug. He tried to pick it up; however, his hands were shaking too hard to steady it. Hot coffee sloshed out of the mug and onto his table. He grumbled and he placed the mug back on the table, abandoning his coffee for the time being.  
  
_Lisa would walk him through the front door and down to the Kindergarten wing._  
  
Would Ben look more like Lisa or Dean? Ben had Dean's warm and hazy green and gold colored eyes; however, Ben never had the chance to really grow up to the point that you could identify features that his parents gave him. You couldn't tell if he had Lisa's nose or Dean's nose because he had only ever made it to his first birthday.

Dean massaged his ring finger.

Four painful years...  
  
**How had it all gone so wrong?**  
  
"All staff members, please report to the library for a brief staff meeting."

That was his cue to get out of his head and get back into the swing of teaching. The corners of his mouth twitched.

This year would be different - there was no doubt in his mind.


	2. Meet and Greet

Dean's eyes drifted to the front of the room where he could see Bobby talking with a disheveled-looking man. His hair was sticking up in all different directions and his blue tie was hanging loosely from his neck, flipped backwards. Hell, even his eyes seemed wildly different from any that Dean had seen before. The dude looked like he walked through a freakin' tornado and came out on the other side without a scratch on him.

And, for some damn reason, Dean couldn't tear his eyes away.

"Okay, settle down, kids," Bobby said, "Welcome back to Lawrence Elementary, I hope you all had a nice summer. I know that Ellen and I did. First order of business is to introduce you to the newest member of our staff. His name is Dr. Castiel Novak and he comes to us from the Boston Public School System. He'll be working full-time for us here at Lawrence Elementary. Let's give him a warm welcome."

That's when people started clapping. Dean watched the man with curiosity. Would his voice be as disheveled as his appearance?

"Hello," Castiel said. His voice was a deep and rich sound that carried well in the large space of the library. "Please don't hesitate to call me to visit your classroom if any issues with the students arise. Thank you."

Castiel's eyes traveled down to the floor as he stepped off to the side. He stood directly next to the Vice Principal, Rufus Turner.

"I'm going to open up the floor to anyone who'd like to share."

_He didn't really want to share... but he had to. For Ben._

Dean slowly extended his arm, putting his hand up. Bobby gave him a nod. Dean stood up from the rocking chair.

That's when he looked around quickly and noticed that everyone was staring right at him, including the new guy. _Great._

"Hey," Dean said. He cleared his voice, due to the unexpected hoarseness that it had taken on, "Mark your calendars for September 9th. That's when I'll be running our annual Ben-a-fit fundraiser for Children's Heart Foundation. We're looking for people to run the booths that we had last year: the healthy choice booth, the face painting booth, the dunk-a-teacher tank. You can grab a form at the office to be a walker and gather a sponsor to pay you per mile you walk on that day. We're also accepting donations that are not based on mileage this year, which is new. Also new this year, the folks from the Roadhouse will be offering a heart healthy buffet. All the proceeds are going to Children's Heart Disease research and to help kids in need of life saving operations."

He paused for a moment. _Did he forget anything?_ He probably did.

"Thanks."

Some of the other teachers clapped and Dean sat down.

"Any other announcements?" Bobby said.

Sam stood up, "Jessica and I are having twins."

That received a lot of cheering and clapping. Dean smiled, for the first time in a long time. He was going to have more nieces and nephews. He couldn't be happier.

"Anything else? No? Okay, great. You can use the rest of the meeting to chat and catch up," Bobby said.

Dean sat in the rocking chair, watching Anna Milton, a second grade teacher, and Castiel interact. His heart was pounding as he watched them laughing away about something with Uriel, another second grade teacher.

"Am I late?"

Of course, Jo was late. The day that she was on time for something would be the day that Dean stopped drinking. It wouldn't happen. You could tell from the clumps of glitter in her hair that she had lost track of time doing some kind of prep work for her art classes.

"You missed a few spots, kid," Dean said. He stood up and gently touched her blonde hair. His eyes narrowed as he rolled chunks of her hair back and forth in between his fingers. He gently pulled it from her hair.

"Shit," she groaned, "I was just trying to finish pouring glitter into containers and I sneezed."

"Dean?"

Anna Milton, with her long red hair, was expressionless next to him.

"Yes?" he said as he began to braid Jo's hair. It was just a habit he had gotten into when he had married Lisa. It was almost therapeutic for him as he mindlessly braided. He could avoid Anna for a few more moments.

"Do you have the sign-up sheet for those booths?" Anna said.

"It's in my notebook. Give me a second," he said as he secured the braid with an elastic.

"Thanks Dean," Jo said with a small smile.

"Not a problem."

Dean picked up his notebook from the seat of the rocking chair. He opened it up to the first page and pulled out the sloppily written sign-up sheet.

Anna was already standing a little too close for him. After Lisa had left him, he had slept with one person... and that person just happened to be Anna. Honestly, it wasn't the worst mistake he'd made - she wanted way more than just a casual relationship and Dean didn't.

Hell, he wasn't sure that he'd ever be ready for another relationship.

"Anna."

"Castiel," Anna said, without looking up from the sign-up sheet, "This is Dean Winchester. Dean, this is my brother, Castiel."

"Nice to meet you," Dean said, sticking out his hand for a handshake. Castiel looked at his hand and seemed to freeze in place.

"The pleasure is mine, Dean."

Dean felt his heart beat just a little bit faster at the sound of Castiel's voice. His voice was enough to make Dean's skin crawl with excitement.

"We need to talk," Castiel said, "Alone."

"Why?"

"It's about the students in your class. I have a few... concerns that we should address sooner rather than later. My office," Castiel said, "I have all my files there. Would you meet me there in ten minutes?"

"Great. I'll be there."

Castiel strode quickly across the room. Dean watched as he chatted with Bobby for a few moments.

"So, did you want to grab a drink later?"

Dean couldn't help the frown that spread across his face, "I have plans tonight, unfortunately." _Did he?_

"What about after your plans?" she asked, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

He shifted on his feet. He didn't want to lead her on... but, something really had him riled up today. He could let off some steam, if that's what she was looking for.

"I don't know, I'll text you," he replied as he gathered his notebook. As he began walking out of the room, he managed to get to his brother, who was being surrounded by women. They were all staring at the ultrasound picture on his cell phone. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Sam, can you pick up the sign up sheet once everyone leaves?"

"No problem," he replied, as he went back into the story about how Jess found out she was having twins. Dean was more than happy to escape.

Dean walked down the hallway and into the main office. Is this where Castiel's office would be? He wasn't completely sure until he looked around the office a bit. He noticed a new plaque on what used to be a supply closet.

**Dr. Castiel Novak, Ph.D.**

Dean knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in, Dean," he heard Castiel's deep voice.

He took a single step into what used to be the closet. The space had been redone - all of the cabinets and shelving had been taken out and replaced with colorful bricks. The window that had previously been boarded up now had a very large and all glass window, that also housed an air conditioner.

It wasn't until a few moments later that Dean noticed Castiel was sitting at the desk underneath the window, flipping through files.

"Please close the door behind you, Dean," Castiel said.

He did as he was asked.

"Nice office," he commented as he looked around the room.

"Take a seat wherever you'd like."

Dean immediately took the seat next to Castiel's desk. The first thing he noticed was picture of Castiel, standing next to a blonde haired woman and a teenage girl on a beach. The water behind them reflected the colors of the sunset - a mixture of reds and purples. He didn't fail to notice the wedding band on Castiel's hand and one on the woman's hand he was with.

"Is this your family?"

Castiel stopped what he was doing and placed his hands flat on his desk. Dean could hear his intake of breath. It took a few moments for the other man to respond.

"Yes," he whispered.

"Your wife and your daughter?" Dean asked.

Castiel's eyes lifted from the papers and held Dean's gaze.

"They are-" Castiel stopped himself, "They were, yes."

Dean, of all people, should have known better than to ask questions like that. After everything that happened with Lisa and Ben...  _How could he have been so inconsiderate?_

"I shouldn't have..."

Castiel stared at him with a blank expression which made him drop the end of his sentence. The man must be a good psychologist because he wasn't giving anything away to Dean.

_What happened to his family?_

"Lucifer is a troubled student," Castiel began as he flipped open the top file on his desk, "He is going to be the toughest student that you'll have. He's six years old but been held back to repeat Kindergarten. He's highly intelligent for his age... which gets him into trouble. He was expelled from the last school he was in. I'm sure you'll be getting his IEP in the next couple of hours; however, you can't really rely on that for the full picture."

Dean nodded. He'd had kids like this before.

"What's his home life?"

"Dad is in jail for attempted murder of Mom. Mom overdosed and died when he was four years old. After that, he was put into the foster system and cycled through a few families."

Dean couldn't help the frown that crossed his features. That could have been Sam if Dean hadn't become his guardian. His heart pounded in his chest. It echoed his life. He knew why Bobby had put Lucifer in his class: so Dean would have to save him. There wasn't another choice.

_Why did he have to be the hero?_

"Dean."

 _That voice_ , he turned his attention back to Castiel. The clear blue irises of Castiel's eyes drew him closer to the man. His eyes looked like the clearest water he'd seen in his life.

"You won't be alone. He's going to need a lot of help; but, we can do it if we all work together."

"Yeah, but what about all the shit in his home life - are we going to help him with that? How the hell are we going to be able to do this? What is your plan? What are we going to do if he doesn't succeed? Are we just going to lock the kid up in a cage somewhere for the rest of his life?"

"It won't come to that," Castiel responded, with ice in his voice.

"But, what if it does come to that?"

"We'll deal with it. Together."

Dean scoffed and leaned back in his chair. Of course, they hired another staff member that was all talk. This guy could probably talk someone into thinking everything would be alright, when, in reality, Dean knew things would never be alright for this kid.

Castiel lifted a mug to his face and blew the hot steam away from his face, "It's a process."

"Process, my ass," he jumped to his feet.

He suddenly remembered why he hated seeing the psychologist in high school. It was all smoke and mirrors. Nothing ever really changed because it was bullshit. A psychologist never truly understood their patients unless they lived through the same events. That was how Dean saw it, at least.

"Dean-"

"Cas," he said, "You can't just throw him into my room tomorrow and expect him to be successful because I've had a fucked up life, too. Don't feed me same god damn lines that you give to the fucking administration."

Dean could feel the rage coursing through his body. He was mad that nothing would come of this meeting. This kid would be screwed for the rest of his life. No one could save him.

He bolted upwards from the chair.

He pressed his finger against the file on Castiel's desk. He was within a few inches of Castiel's face. If he leaned forward just a little more, his lips would be crushed up against Castiel's. His eyes narrowed at that thought. Of course, Castiel's calm and cool demeanor meant that he just sat there, barely even moving, staring into the depths of Dean's eyes, as if he were trying to figure out how to solve a Rubix cube.

_Fucking psychologists._

"When you figure out the plan for this kid, come talk to me. This is a kid's life we're talking about, here, not just some god damn facts on a piece of paper. Figure it the fuck out."

Castiel's brow furrowed and that's when Dean looked down at his lips one last time before storming angrily out of the office. _He needed a beer. Now._


End file.
